Giant elephant ears in Colonial Beach

Diane Christopher, of Bancroft Avenue, Colonial Beach, planted the bulbs for these gigantic elephant ears in the spring of 2011. There are two bulbs on each side of the porch steps. They grew quite large last summer but not nearly as big as these.

Diane Christopher and the gigantic elephant ears in her front yard on Bancroft Avenue in Colonial Beach.

The foliage is supposed to be cut back before winter and the bulbs dug up to be replanted in the spring since they should not survive our winters. This past winter, however, Christopher decided to just cut them back to the bulb base and mulch them really heavily and see what happened.

As you can see, when spring arrived they began growing and growing and growing.

People walking and driving by the Christopher home frequently stop and ask what kind of plant they are. Those who know they are elephant ears say how beautiful they are and that they have ever seen any this big. Christopher said she has never seen any this big either.